Drastic Measures
by HighonMevie
Summary: Medicine was really hard to get on the isle and it was usually horrible. So when one of their own falls ill, what happens next?


You didn't get sick on the isle. You kept moving and doing what you had to do, until you couldn't anymore. And by the time that happened, it was usually too late. You pushed the symptoms out of your mind and you never acknowledged how you felt, it showed weakness.

In the cases were an individual couldn't ignore the pain any longer, little could be done. Medication was like a needle in a haystack- near impossible to find. When you could find something, more times than none, it did little to help or even worsened situations.

So you just didn't get sick. It was that simple.

When Evie woke up at the sound of her alarm at approximately 7:05 am on a Thursday morning with a scratchy throat, an obnoxious cough and full body aches, she simply pushed it out of her mind. She swung her feet to the floor, taking a deep breath and closing her eyes tightly before standing up

With only the sunlight that escaped through the closed curtains as lighting, it made the room feel comforting and lighter, even if Evie felt rather _heavy_ right now.

She padded her way towards the bathroom, reminding herself to stay quiet as the purple haired girl slept peacefully. Evie took a quiet moment to reflect on how she beautiful she looked with the sunlight dancing across her face. Her purple locks sprayed against the white pillowcase, illuminating her features. She could have stayed there forever, admiring the beauty if it wasn't for an ill-timed cough and the fact that it was indeed, very creepy. No way for a lady to act.

This was the normal routine. Evie woke up, showered and did her extensive makeup routine. Then, she woke up Mal. You didn't want to wake her up before that, she was most definitely not a morning person. Evie knew first hand what waking Mal up before 8:15 AM entails and it was not pretty.

She carefully turned on the shower head, testing the water on her hand to get the ideal temperature for her shower. She hoped a good shower could just wash away all the nastiness she was feeling.

_'Evelyn! You can't possibly think you can find a man- with a blemish- a mark on you!'_

_'But Mommy-'_

_'No one cares how you feel. It matters on how you look. Now stop with the buts. It's not lady like at all."_

Evie let the hot water roll down her back as she closed her eyes and remembered the first time she fell and scraped her knee, at the tender age of 5. That's when she first remembered the message of hiding how you felt, because it didn't matter. In all honest, it probably happened far before the age of 5.

After twenty minutes with the smell of apples and cinnamon lingering in her hair, Evie stepped out of the shower, holding out hope that the steam and hot water cleared her up.

She sighed lightly and put on her outfit for the day; a pair of black leggings underneath a blue leather skirt which paired perfectly with the black blouse underneath her signature blue jacket. She didn't like the way that she felt putting on the clothing that hugged her body and constricted her, because it made the aches that she felt only more present.

Evie shook her head and forced a slight smile onto her face as she looked at herself in the mirror. It didn't matter how she felt. She looked good, and that was all that mattered. That is what always mattered.

45 minutes later, her extensive makeup routine was finished. She wasn't exactly sure how she felt with the final product. She felt as if all the pain she felt was evident on her face. She frowned and looked over at herself in the mirror.

_'Wrinkles. Frown lines. Stop it, Evelyn.'_

Evie shook her head and removed the frown from her face, walking back into the room. She put that smile back on her face, even if she didn't feel like smiling at all- even if she felt like crawling back into bed and sleeping the day away.

Evie could only rationalize in her head that she simply didn't get enough sleep, or was hungry or even thirsty. It the end, it didn't really matter how it happened. She just needed it to go away.

She walked over, yanking the pillow off of Mal's head, shaking her head as she did so.

"Time to wake up. No time to waste." Evie hummed lightly to herself, fully opening the blinds to let in the sunlight.

"Nooo, 10 more minutes" Mal groaned, rolling over in bed to hide her face.

"Nope."

"5 more minutes"

"No."

"2?"

"Time to get up, silly" Evie giggled slightly to herself, even though this happened more days then none. She always managed to think it was adorable, however.

Mal groaned and sat up in bed, her purple hair sticking up in all directions.

Evie smiled closing her eyes softly and taking a few deep breaths and running her fingers absentmindedly though the purplette's hair, to smooth it out.

"I heard they're serving strawberry pancakes today." Evie mentions lightly, pulling her fingers out of the others hair, moving to slip on her shoes. Even the mere thought of eating, or food in general, made her stomach turn.

Mal almost jumped out of bed, throwing on her usual garb as she got ready for the day ahead- but most importantly breakfast and the mouth-watering pancakes that awaited the pair in the cafeteria.

The pair left the room just about ten minutes later, but Evie let Mal trail ahead as she walked slowly behind the other as she tried to ignore the smells that wafted down the hall that made her sick to her stomach.

"E? You coming?" Mal called back, confusion written across her face.

Evie hasn't even realised that she had stopped in her tracks, until the ever familiar voice broke her out her thoughts and gaze that she seemed to be in. She took a deep breath and swallowed, grimacing as it stung on the way down.

She looked back up at the other,forcing a smile, before tossing her bag over her shoulder and running up to catch up with the purplette.

"Yeah, sorry. Must have been daydreaming or something." Evie laughed weakly and followed her into the cafeteria.

Mal seemed to accept the excuse, immediately heading towards the line of food once the pair had entered the loud and crowded room. Evie stood by the door, scanning the room for her friends. Jay and Carlos were already there, probably on their third plate of food by now.

Evie headed towards the line of food, carefully picking up a plate off the stack provided by the start of the buffet. It all looked so good, yet bad her feel so bad. That most definitely was _not_ fair. She was starting to feel like she couldn't even look at the mounds of delicious food without feeling like someone had punched her in the stomach. She quickly grabbed a piece of toast and a glass of juice, before heading towards the table where her friends were sitting at.

Evie didn't pay much attention towards the conversation at the table that day. Sure, she laughed here and there, nodded when something important was said, but besides that, she didn't pay attention. She was even able to ignore the worried glances from her friends, the wandering eyes that wondered what was wrong with the blue princess.

Instead, she noted how the toast and juice was incredibly tough going down, and almost wanted to bring tears to her eyes before she remembered that she was stronger than this. That she just needed to make it through this, whatever it was, and move on. If that was possible.

Evie excused herself from the table, tossing away her half bitten toast and headed towards the bathroom. She gripped the edge of the sink, until her knuckles almost matched the white of the sink. She took another deep breath- ignored the pain- and gave herself an internal pep talk and mental slap in the face. She slowly turned on the water, splashing water on her face and looking at her reflection in the window.

_Get yourself together. This will pass in a day or two, and you can't stop like this. Pick yourself up and focus. You are not weak. This will __**not**_ _stop you. _

She took a deep breath before nodding to herself in agreement before quickly spinning around on her heels and heading towards her friends so they could all walk to class together. Well, more like all walking in the same general direction since they all had different first classes.

Evie thought that perhaps she getting better at this whole hiding thing, or she just wasn't paying enough attention. It was probably the latter. Maybe she thought, she was even feeling better, or perhaps she was going a little delusional. Once again, it was probably the latter.

Mal was able to notice that something was off, so were Jay and Carlos. Yet they weren't able to figure out or decipher exactly what it was. Mal kept silently studying the bluenette, although, that was nothing new. She was breathtaking, however, today she was looking for signs. Signs of distress, or clues to give away what was wrong.

To say that Mal was worried, would be an understatement to say the least. Evie just always seemed so together, so poised and bright. It was distressing to say the least to see her in a state of- well, Mal didn't really know. She did know that she wanted to make it better, yet, she didn't know how. She was better at tearing things down then rebuilding them.

Mal frowned slightly as she watched the blue haired girl head into her classroom without a single word to anyone, looking flush even with all the makeup on. How Mal could even tell that, she had no idea.

Mal wasn't able to focus on any of her classes today, her mind kept drifting off to worry about Evie and whatever she was troubling her. She merely bit her lip and absentmindedly doodled in the margins of her paper.

Time seemed to move ever so slowly as finally the last class before lunch was dismissed. The purplette quickly gathered her books, and almost ran out of the classroom and towards the cafeteria.

She let out a deep breath that she didn't realize she was holding when she spotted the blue haired princess sitting at their usual table. She quickly walked over, placing her things on the table and sliding into the seat next to her.

"Hey Princess." She greeted, breaking Evie of the gaze she had focused on a glass of water. Evie forced a small smile to look up at the other.

Mal could almost feel her heart breaking into a million little pieces because she could tell that the smile was forced, and her eyes only showed pain. When Evie smiled, her whole face lit up. She smiled with her entire heart, and you could tell in her eyes that she was truly happy. That was something you couldn't fake.

"How was class?" Evie asked, not only because she always wanted to hear about her day, but also hoping it would end up as some type of distraction.

"Same, same. Dreadfully boring." Mal teased lightly, shaking her head, hoping to make the other laugh.. "And they said there was no evil in Auradon."

Evie nodded in agreement, listening to the rest of her day quietly, just adding in a few words of acknowledgement and agreement when needed.

After Mal had finished, the pair sat in silence for a few moments before the boys joined them, demanding that they settle some sort of debate that they were arguing about.

Half way during lunch, while Jay and Carlos had roped both Jane and Lonnie into the debate, Mal took the chance to turn to Evie, who had stayed suspiciously quiet the entire time.

"Are you ok, E?"

Evie looked up at the other for a moment before nodding her head, feigning a look of confusion at the question.

"Yeah, why? Do I not look ok?" Evie asked, her eyes widening at the thought that maybe she did look as bad as she felt and no one had told her until now- and everyone had probably laughed, and thought she looked terrible- _shut up evie. _

"No- no! You look beautiful, like always." The purplette rushed to reassure the girl, smiling softly at her. _Gosh_, she was stunning. With the smile that lit up an entire room, big brown eyes that she could get lost in for hours. Mal thought she beat out any _'princess'_ in all of Auradon. "You just seem off today. You know you can talk to me right? You don't have to hide, we aren't on the isle anymore."

"I know, but I'm fine. I promise." Evie tried to say reassuringly, before quickly excusing herself from the table so she didn't have to hack up her lungs at the table.

Mal sighed softly, as she watched her leave. Things were supposed to be different here. They were supposed to be safe, and they couldn't get hurt here. She really wished that the bluenette felt as if she didn't need to hide. Although, she knew more than anyone, it was hard to forget things you knew for 16 years of your life.

Evie waited until she safely made it into the empty hall to let herself hack up half a lung and then some. She felt a pit in her stomach that she knew wasn't because of any sickness she may have, but from the guilt she felt from lying to Mal.

She knew the purplette only wanted to help and the genuine concern in her eyes were real, yet it was much harder to accept help when she'd been trained for most of her life to do the exact opposite.

She leaned against the wall, looking up at the ceiling and letting out a loud sigh. She let her knees buckle underneath her as she slid to the floor in defeat to whatever was attacking her from the inside out.

Evie brought her knees to herself, hugging them tightly and laying her head in between them. Letting out soft, shallow breaths. Memories came flooding back to the bluenette as the air conditioning flowed and swirled around her in the empty hall.

_'Mal!? What do we do?' An eleven year old evie calls out frantically as they half dragged/half carried a fellow villain kid into their newly formed hideout. _

_She was hot, sweaty and basically rolling over in pain. Something like this wasn't unusual, but it was the first time the tween had seen it this close up. _

_The younger Mal races forward and dabs the child's head with a cool rag she found. _

_The four friends tried to help for days to nurse the poor child back to health, but nothing seemed to be helping. Until one day, when Evie returns with a fresh rag, she finds the young girl with a calm expression on her face, eyes closed and still._

_That was her first experience with sickness and death. _

What if, this was happening now? I mean, she's most definitely sick. She couldn't deny it any longer. But was something this bad? Would she not make it to graduation? Would she not be able to start a fashion line or find a prince-. Actually, scratch that, she didn't want a prince. Would she not be able to have her happily ever after with the one she loved? Would the one she loved even know she loved her? Probably not, she was kind of oblivious after all.

Evie could feel tears threatening to poke out of the corner of her eyes, quickly wiping them away and attempting to stand up, steadying herself on the wall as the dizziness hit. She bit her lip and decided she could skip study hall. All of her work was already done and she needed sleep like mal needed her spell book.

She didn't even bother changing- she didn't have the energy to carry out and follow the simple task. She simply collapsed in her bed, finally letting some tears fall down her cheek until she fell into a restless sleep not long later.

Mal didn't mind covering for Evie, she just wished she knew why or that she even had to do it. So when Doug, Lonnie and _many_ _many _others asked where the usually cheerful princess was on that fateful afternoon, Mal had lied and said that Evie had gotten sick and was resting in the room. Little did she know, that was basically the entire truth to it.

She also didn't mind carrying double the load, also hauling the other girls homework back to the room. If it was anyone else, she would have argued, pouted and spoke with such disdain and dripping sarcasm. But, she would always do it for the girl. Because they were best friends, that's why. Not because she secretly wondered what her lips felt against hers. Definitely not why.

Mal sighed and dropped the books on the table in the middle of the room, shutting the door with a kick of her foot. She ran a spare hand though her hair and let out another gentle sigh once she was met with the sight that was the other girl, fast asleep on the bed.

She smiled softly and slowly slid off her shoes, careful not to wake her. She placed them next to her bed, helping to move her so she was underneath the blankets. She brought the blankets up to fully cover the other girl, before leaning over and placing a gentle kiss on her forehead.

"Feel better soon, princess" she whispers and she could swear that she spotted a small smile creep up on the bluenettes face but ended up chalking it up to her mind playing games with her.

Mal did her homework and doodled in her sketchbook, but mostly spent the night minding over the sleeping girl. Just to make sure she was okay and safe.

It was probably about 3AM when Mal woke up to the sounds of crashing and later, retching. She shot up in her bed, looking around for the sound of the culprit, ready to spit a spell right off the tip of her tongue if it came to that. She looked over to the other bed, seeing it empty and following her eyes until she saw the fallen hamper and realizing what was going on by the time she saw the light cracking through the bottom of the bathroom door.

"Evie?!" Mal asked, climbing out of the bed and clambering to the bathroom, pushing the door open and looking down at the other girl who seemed to be clutching the toilet for dear life as if she would slide down the tiles without that support. She didn't need to say anything, Mal could sense the pain in her eyes- along with the feeling of helplessness and embarrassment.

Mal bent down, pulling the bright blue hair out of the other's face and pushing away the spare strands that stuck to her face.

As much as Evie wanted to push her away, and tell her get back because she could handle this herself and the last thing she wanted was to get the other girl sick, she couldn't. She let Mal hold back her hair as she emptied the contents of her stomach (which wasn't much) into the toilet.

She even let her guide her back to the safety of her bed, and just laid silently as she felt her forehead and she felt as if she could even hear her frown as she reacted to the heat that her forehead radiated.

"You're burning up, E." Mal did indeed frown, searching around for a clean rag.

"That's not good, is it?" Evie laughed lightly, but groaned as it hurt to even show amusement.

"No, of course not. You should of told someone that you weren't feeling well." Mal said, well more like rambled, as she paced around the room getting things she thought could be helpful. Her tone indicated annoyance, yet Mal wasn't mad at Evie, she was angry at herself and angry at the fact that things still weren't good enough for them to feel truly safe.

"It was nothing- or I mean, it still is. Nothing I mean, I'm sure this will pass." Evie tried to reason, mostly with herself but she didn't sound the least bit positive as she struggled to sit up against the headboard, letting the other pat her forehead with a cool rag.

"It doesn't seem much like nothing, you know." Mal states, glancing at her with knowing eyes. "I could have helped- or someone could have. The nurse even."

"They can't, Mal." Evie said, tone indicating seriousness as she tilted her head to look at the purplette. "What if- this is… it?" Evie said, tears threatening to poke out of the corner of her brown eyes once again. Memories of 6 years ago flood back and that's all she could think of, or reason with.

"E.. that's not going to happen. We're in Auradon now. Safe, it's better here." Mal carefully sat herself on the edge of the bed, biting her lip gently and taking Evie's hand in hers. She didn't want to reveal this to the older girl, but she had been worrying about the same thing.

"Yeah but, what if it's not? You can't always control things like this." Evie says her voice trailing off she speaks, the tears flowing freely onto her sheets.

Mal took a deep breath and squeezed the other's hand lightly, until she managed to look up into the big brown eyes that she had loved from day one. She would be the strong one in this, she decided. Someone had too. She steadied her mind and swallowed, before deciding on the right words to say instead of letting word vomit spill from her mouth. If this was the time- and she was going to do it now- it had to be correct.

"Evie- I would do anything in my power to switch with you, if I could. I wish I could- just take all this pain from you because you don't deserve it. Your the best one out of us, and your good and deserve a castle and all your dreams to come true. But- your right, E. We can't control things- Fate. We can't control that." She took a deep breath and continued with her monologue. "I can't control how much I love you and I can't control that I would rather die than let you suffer an ounce-." Mal stopped for a second and shushed Evie so she could finish. "I wish I had told you sooner, but I'm madly in love with my best friend."

"I- wow-" Evie said before realizing that she should probably reply more fittingly to a confession of love. "I love you too- and I have for such a long time." Evie had the brightest smile that she could muster, giggling slightly despite how she felt "I would totally kiss you if it didn't mean I would be holding your hair back soon."

"Good thing I don't really care about that then." Mal said, with a small smirk as she leaned forward and placed a soft kiss on the other's lips, resting her hand on her cheek.

Evie squeaked lightly but returned the kiss, taking in how soft her lips were until they parted, looking up at each with love in their eyes. Evie broke the gaze as she yanked Mal into the bed beside her with a small laugh. "We better stop, we're turning into a cliche from all of Auradon's movies."

Mal laughed lightly and shook her head, moving to get comfortable next to the bluenette letting her rest her head against her. "You'll be ok, princess… I can tell."

"I hope your right." Evie said weakly, starting to feel more achy and worn down, snuggling into Mal's side.

"It'll be a cruel twist of fate for you not to be alright." Mal said, trying to sound confident but she was starting to falter, they both were.

Mal let Evie fall back asleep, occasionally dabbing her forehead and making sure that she was ok. She shifted a few times to either get more comfortable or to grab her phone and alert the boys of the situation at hand and the worries that lingered in the air.

Mal didn't know when she fell asleep again, but she quickly woke up when they received a loud knock on the door. Mal looked over, as Evie also was starting to stir from the noise. The purplette pushed herself up against the headboard, and quickly let the older girl adjust herself against her shoulder before she cleared her throat.

"Come in!"

Jay, Carlos and Jane all fumbled into the room, baring smiles and worried and surprised glances.

"I brought some Antibiotics- and soup- and things I like to do when I'm sick…" Jane rambled lightly, putting her bag down and pulling out all her items she had brought along.

Evie was fully awake now, blinking lightly and just watching the scene unfold from in front of her. She didn't have enough energy to do much else.

"Brought some what?" Mal asked, answering the question that both of them had on their minds. A look of pure confusion present on both faces.

"... Antibiotics?" Jane says slower, tilting her head slightly until she realized that they probably didn't know what she was talking about. "Well, um. They help you feel better by attacking the things that are making you sick."

Mal and Evie looked between each other, the bottle in Jane's hands, then at Jane herself before looking back at each other.

They didn't even have to say what they were thinking because they were thinking the same things: One; really glad that they would be okay. Two; stupid for not assuming that Auradon would have a better supply of medication. Three; silly that they'd waited for such a moment to reveal how they felt.

Mal and Evie dissolve into a fit of giggles, giving each other small kisses on respective cheeks. Leaving Jane, Jay and Carlos wondering what actually happened earlier this morning.


End file.
